Pay-per-view is a form of subscription TV service that allows viewers to select specific programs to watch and to pay only for them. This differs from presently available subscription TV systems that provide access to all programs on a channel for a flat fee.
Cable and broadcast vendors have long recognized that pay-per-view TV holds enormous potential for them, but they have not been able to capitalize on that potential. Prior art arrangements have needed too much capital to finance program ordering, program distribution, and customer billing systems. However, despite these challenges and high costs, subscription TV companies are installing devices on customer premises for enabling customers to receive pay-per-view programming.
The present invention is directed to making the pay-per-view technology and marketing more affordable to operators and customers on a dial-up basis via telephone networking and centralized facilities for order routing, customer entitlement verification, charging and billing, and program distribution and delivery control.
A co-pending application, R. W. Foster et al., Ser. No. 781,895, filed Sept. 26, 1985, and assigned to the same assignee of the present application, is directed to a pay-per-view arrangement for ordering local CATV viewing selections through a local office telephone switching system.
A problem with existing subscription TV service is that it is generally restricted to local networking and no facilities are available for providing nationwide dial-up subscription TV service from any telephone or telecommunications system. Another problem is that local subscription TV service is commonly provided on a monthly fee per channel basis for a given period of time without having facilities to selectively provide individual per channel programming on a dial-up and pay-per-view basis. In those few instances where individual programming is available on a dial-up basis, telephone orders are usually handled by operators or special order entry equipment. Such arrangements are prohibitively costly particularly for handling customer requests during heavy program ordering periods.
Another problem is that billing records for network calls are usually kept at either an originating or terminating local network office where they are compiled and forwarded to a regional processing center to charge the calling customer for the call. No centralized facilities are available to derive and compile records on a toll network basis. Even charges recorded for "800" INWATS calls for collected at the terminating local office.
Still another problem is that telephone networks are not equipped to provide vendor equipment with caller identification and requested service information on a centralized basis. Prior art arrangements would simply forward all calls directly to a service vendor identified by the dialed number. Prior art networks do not process calls to centralized network facilities and collect service and caller identification for service vendors.
Additionally, even if prior art arrangement were equipped to process service requests and caller information on a centralized basis to vendor equipment, the prior art vendor equipment is not equipped to process calls such as "800" service calls from centralized network equipment.